Riders Republic is Ubisoft’s latest massive open-world game. This time? It’s multiplayer action sports. It’s a big game with dozens of pre-built races, customizable courses and avatars, and three primary sports: biking, skiing/snowboarding, and air sports via rocketwings and glider suites. It’s a ton of fun, and as the free trial week winds down, Jason and Mick have seven Riders Republic tips to get you having the best time once the full game arrives on PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Google Stadia, Amazon Luna, and Microsoft Windows on October 28th.
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Don’t Skip the Trick Tutorials – Jason
Riders Republic has a fairly unique control scheme, especially compared to more recent arcade-style action sports games like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series. You use a combination of triggers, directions, and action buttons to pull off all kinds of flips, spins, and grabs as you bike, ski, and snowboard your way across the vast world. Don’t skip the trick tutorials! They will help with remembering which button combinations pull off which tricks since there’s not an easy-to-access trick cheatsheet. It’s also just super helpful in nailing down the timing, button series, and landings for each move. Some moves only work with a certain number of rotations, for example, and others require you to press buttons in a specific order. These tutorials are short and great Riders Republic tips as you begin to learn how to jump correctly without accidentally flipping over.
Find What Camera Mode Works Best for Each Sport – Mick
One of the first in-game Riders Republic tips you get when starting is “change the camera mode with R3/RS.” At first, I thought nothing of it until one of the last bike races before the preview opened up. That race, I accidentally hit R3, and the bike race became a whole new game. Just one press toggles the camera from the angled 3rd person view to the first person. Being able to see all the turns and terrain ahead made racing downhill on the bikes a different experience. Of course, this isn’t the case for every mode of transportation that you control. When doing any trick, the first-person camera kicks you out so you can see everything you’re doing and line up a good landing before pushing you right back into your racer’s head when you land. So some events like scoring points on skis or snowboard might not make as much sense to stay in first person because of the number of tricks you’re doing, but in racing-focused events, I found much more enjoyment from feeling right in the action. But, see what POV works for you, and don’t be afraid to change it.
Try Turning Off Auto Landing – Jason
This is certainly not an imperative, but be sure to give manual trick landing a try at least once to see how you like it. Not only does it allow you to score more points, but it also adds an extra challenge to your game. If a challenge isn’t what you’re looking for, that’s totally fine. But if you appreciate a bit of extra concentration and desire the consequences of gravity, you’ll surely want to flip this switch and give it a go. The difference is immediate, and your crashes will be more frequent, but hey, crash landing is a part of the fun of the game too.
Be Cautious Changing the Difficulty – Mick
Like many other extreme sports and racing games, there is a difficulty toggle in Riders Republic. It can be changed at any time right before a race if you feel like the competition is getting a little too tough. And while increasing the difficulty can be rewarding, it can also cause just as many headaches. Even by bumping it up by one from Standard (the lowest difficulty), I found that the AI becomes much smarter. Jumps that they previously would faceplant on, they would land perfectly; turns that led them into going headfirst into rocks, they’d drift around with ease. I was honestly surprised by how much more intelligent the AI got so fast. You may want to wait until you have better gear before bumping it up too high too fast.
Buy a New Outfit – Jason
Nobody wants to be dressed like every other person around them, so why should Riders Republic be different? Some good Riders Republic tips to help set you apart from the crowd: buy a new outfit or two and remember to equip them for all of your sports. You can wear something different for each of the games many activities, or the same for everything. Just head to the shop to spend your hard-earned in-game cash on a ridiculous giraffe costume or unlock sponsored gear by earning stars across the game and completing contracts with different brands. Either way, unless you truly want to be in the same plaid as everyone else, definitely be sure to mix up your style.
Use the Rewind Feature Sparingly – Mick
What surprised me in Riders Republic is a feature that I’ve only really seen in Forza games: being able to rewind time. Any time you mess up, tapping R1/RB will send you back a couple of seconds, and it can be held until you’re at a spot that you think will get you right back into the action. It even starts you up motionless to help you make a tight turn more easily. But, unlike in Forza games, the entire race doesn’t rewind with you. Only you rewind. So sometimes, it may be more advantageous just to reset a race if you mess up. But for stunt courses? Rewind away until you get a giant bonus.
Check Out the Real-Life Influences – Jason
Riders Republic has a huge map, all of which is modeled off of real-life natural wonders throughout the United States’s Southwest. From Mammoth Mountain to the Tetons to Canyonland, some of the world’s greatest natural wonders are on display for you to awe at, race down, or flip over. In addition, the game is littered with Landmarks, essentially a collectible where you can pause and learn a fact about these geographical wonders. Many of the locations can be found today in National Parks or other public land projects. While it’s essential always to remember that these parks are built on stolen land, often by stolen labor, you would be remiss not to give at least a Google search to each location, check out pictures as well as their history, and maybe even be inspired to visit.
Be sure to try these Riders Republic tips when the game is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Google Stadia, Amazon Luna, and Microsoft Windows on October 28th. Pre-order now via our affiliate links.
